
Glass F\ <^ ^ 

Book .^^i/hg .( 



rts-T/ 



MR. WEBSTER^S ADDRESS 



AT THE 



LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE 



ADDITION TO THE CAPITOL; 

JULY 4, 1851. 



Gideon & Co., Printers. 



ME. WEBSTER'S ADDRESS 



LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE 






ADDITION TO THE CxiPITOL 



JULY 4th, 1851. 



"^ti^^lt , !7 



6 2^. 



"Stet Capitolium 

FtJXGENS; 

LATB NOMEN IN ULTIMAS 
EXTENDAT OEAS." 




WASHINGTON: 

GIDEON AND CO., PRINTERS. 

18 5 1. 



/ ^0 + 



■i 



ADDRESS. 



Fellow-Citizens: I congratulate you, I give you joy on the 
return of this Anniversary; and I felicitate you, also on the more 
particular purpose of which this ever-memorable day has been 
chosen to witness the fulfilment. Hail ! all hail ! I see before 
and around me a mass of faces, glowing with cheerfulness and 
patriotic pride. I see thousands of eyes, turned towards other 
eyes, all sparkling with gratification and delight. This is the 
New World ! This is America ! This is Washington ! and this 
the Capitol of the United States! And where else, among the 
Nations, can the seat of government be surrounded, on any day of 
any year, by those who have more reason to rejoice in the blessings 
which they possess? Nowhere,fellow-citizens; assuredly, nowhere. 
Let us, then, meet this rising sun with joy and thanksgiving ! 

This is that day of the year which announced to mankind the 
great fact 01 American Independence. This fresh and brilliant 
morning blesses our vision with another beholding of the Birthday 
of our Nation, and we see that nation, of recent origin, now 
among the most considerable and powerful, and spreading over 
the continent from sea to sea. 

Among the first colonists from Europe to this part of America, 
there were some, doubtless, who contemplated the distant conse- 
quences of their undertaking, and who saw a great futurity ; but, 
in general, their hopes were limited to the enjoyment of a safe 
asylum from tyranny, religious and civil, and to respectable sub- 
sistence, by industry and toil. A thick veil hid our times from their 
view. But the progress of America, however slow, could not but 
at length awaken genius, and attract the attention of manland. 

In the early part of the next century. Bishop Berkeley, who, it 
will be remembered, had resided for some time in Newport m 
Rhode Island, wrote his well-known « Verses on the Prospect of 



planting Arts and Learning in America." The last stanza of this 
little Poem seems to have been produced by a high poetical in- 
spiration : 

"Westward the course of empire takes its way; 
The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day: 
Time's noblest ofifepring is the last." 

This extraordinary prophecy may be considered only as the 
result of long foresight and uncommon sagacity ; of a foresight 
and sagacity stimulated, nevertheless, by excited feeling and high 
enthusiasm. So clear a vision of what America would become 
was not founded on square miles, or on existing numbers, or on 
any vulgar laws of statistics. It was an intuitive glance into 
futurity ; it was a grand conception, strong, ardent, glowing, em- 
bracing all time since the creation of the world, and all regions 
of which that world is composed; and judging of the future by just 
analogy with the past. And the inimitable imagery and beauty 
with which the thought is expressed, joined to the conception itself, 
render it one of the most striking passages in our language. 

On the day of the declaration of Independence our illustrious 
fathers performed the first scene in the last great act of this 
drama; one, in real importance, infinitely exceeding that for 
which the great English poet invoked. 

'* A muse of fire, 
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, 
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene !" 

The Muse inspiring our Fathers was the Genius of Liberty, all 
on fire with a sense of oppression, and a resolution to throw it 
off*; the whole world was the stage, and higher characters than 
princes trod it ; and, instead ot monarchs, countries and nations 
and the age beheld the swelling scene. How well the characters 
were cast, and how well each acted his part, and what emotions 
the whole performance excited, let history, now and hereafter, tell. 

At a subsequent period, but before the declaration of Indepen- 
dence, the Bishop of St. Asaph published a Discourse, in which 
the following remarkable passages are found : 

"It is difijcult for man to look into the destiny of future ages ; 
* the designs of Providence are too vast and complicated, and our 



* own powers are too narrow to admit of much satisfaction to our 

* curiosity. But, when we see many great and powerful causes 

* constantly at work, we cannot doubt of their producing propor- 

* tionable effects. 

"The colonies in North America have not only taken root and 

* acquired strength, hut seem hastening with an accelerated progress 
' to such a powerful State as may introduce a new and important 
' change in human affairs. 

" Descended from ancestors of the most improved and enlight- 

* ened part of the old world, they receive, as it were by inherit- 
*ance, all the improvements and discoveries of their mother 

* country. And it happens fortunately for them to commence 
' their flourishing State at a time when the human understanding 

* has attained to the free use of its powers, and has learned to act 

* with vigor and certainty. They may avail themselves not only 

* of the experience and industry, but even of the errors and mis- 

* takes of former days. Let it be considered for how many ages 
' a great part of the world appears not to have thought at all ; 

* how many more they have been busied in forming systems and 

* conjectures, while reason has been lost in a labyrinth of words, 

* and they never seem to have suspected on what frivolous matters 

* their minds were employed. 

" And let it be well understood what rapid improvements, what 

* important discoveries have been made, in a few years, by a few 

* countries, with our own at their head, which have at last dis- 

* covered the right method of using their faculties. 

" May we not reasonably expect that a number of provinces, 

* possessed of these advantages, and quickened by mutual emula- 

* tion, with only the common progress of the human mind, should 

* very considerably enlarge the boundaries of science? 

"The vast continent itself, over which they are gradually 

* spreading, may be considered as a treasure yet untouched of 
' natural productions that shall hereafter afford ample matter for 

* commerce and contemplation. And, if we reflect what a stock 

* of knowledge may be accumulated by the constant progress of 

* industry and observation, fed with fresh supplies from the stores 

* of nature, assisted sometimes by those happy strokes of chance 

* which mock all the powers of invention, and sometimes by those 

* superior characters which arise occasionally to instruct and en- 



'lighten the world, it is difficult even to imagine to what height 

* of improvement their discoveries may extend. 

" And perhaps they may make as considerable advances in the 
' arts of civil government and the conduct of life. We have reason 
' to be proud, and even jealous, of our excellent constitution ; but 

* those equitable principles on which it was formed, an equal re- 
' presentation, (the best discovery of political wisdom,) and a just 
' and commodious distribution of power, which with us were the 
' price of civil wars, and the rewards of the virtues and sufferings 

* of our ancestors, descend to them as a natural inheritance, with- 
' out toil or pain. 

" But must they rest here^ as in the utmost effort of human genius? 

* Can chance and time, the wisdom and the experience of public men, 
' suggest no new remedy against the evils which vices and ambition 

* are perpetually apt to cause ? May they not hope, without pre- 
' sumption, to preserve a greater zeal for piety and public devo- 

* tion than we have done ? For sure it can hardly happen to them, 

* as it has to us, that when religion is best understood and ren- 

* dered most pure and reasonable, that then should be the precise 

* time when many cease to believe and practice it, and all in 

* general become most indifferent to it ? 

" May they not possibly be more successful than their mother 

* country has been in preserving that reverence and authority 
'which is due to the laws? to those who make, and to those who 
' execute them ? May not a method be invented of procuring some 

* tolerable share of the comforts of life to those inferior useful ranks 
' of men to whose industry we are indebted for the whole ? Time 

* and discipline may discover some means to correct the extreme in- 
^ equalities of condition between the rich and the poor, so dangerous 
' to the innocence and happiness of both. They may fortunately be 
' led by habit and choice to despise that luxury which is consid- 

* ered with us the true enjoyment of wealth. They may have 
' little relish for that ceaseless hurry of amusements which is pur- 

* sued in this country without pleasure, exercise, or employment. 

* And perhaps, after trying some of our follies and caprices and 

* rejecting the rest, they may be led by reason and experiment to 
' that old simplicity which was first pointed out by Nature, and 

* has produced those models which we still admire in arts, elo- 

* quence, and manners. The diversity of new scenes and situations, 



* which so many growing States must necessarily pass through, may 
' introduce changes in the fluctuating opinions and manners of men 
^ which we can form no conception of; and not only the gracious 

* disposition of Providence, but the visible preparation of causes, 

* seems to indicate strong tendencies tov^^ards a general improve- 
*ment." 

Fellow-citizens, this " gracious disposition of Providence," and 
this "visible preparation of causes," at length brought on the 
hour for decisive action. On the 4th of July, 1776, the Represen- 
tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled 
declared that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, 

FREE AND INDEPENDENT StATES. 

This declaration, made by most patriotic and resolute men, 
trusting in the justice of their cause and the protection of Heaven, 
and yet made not vrithout deep solicitude and anxiety, has now 
stood for seventy-five years, and still stands. It was sealed in 
blood. It has met dangers, and overcome them ; it has had 
enemies, and conquered them; it has had detractors, and 
abashed them all ; it has had doubting friends, but it has cleared 
all doubts away ; and now, to-day, raising its august form higher 
than the clouds, twenty millions of people contemplate it with 
hallowed love, and the world beholds it, and the consequences 
which have followed from it, with profound admiration. 

This anniversary animates, and gladdens, and unites all Ame- 
rican hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, 
indulging in controversies, more or less important to the public 
good ; we may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our 
political differences, often with warm, and sometimes with angry 
feelings. But to-day, we are Americans all ; and all nothing but 
Americans. As the great luminary over our heads, dissipating 
mists and fogs, now cheers the whole hemisphere, so do the asso- 
ciations connected with this day disperse all cloudy and sullen 
weather in the minds and hearts of true Americans. Every 
man's heart swells within him ; every man's port and bearing 
becomes somewhat more proud and lofty, as he remembers that 
seventy-five years have rolled away, and that the great inherit- 
ance of liberty is still his : his, undiminished and unimpaired ; his 
in all its original glory ; his to enjoy ; his to protect ; and his to 
transmit to future generations. 



Fellow-citizens: This inheritance which we enjoy to-day is 
not only an inheritance of liberty, but of our own peculiar Ame- 
rican liberty. Liberty has existed in other times, in other coun- 
tries, and in other forms. There has been a Grecian liberty, 
bold and powerful, full of spirit, eloquence, and fire ; a liberty 
which produced multitudes of great men, and has transmitted one 
immortal name, the name of Demosthenes, to posterity. But still 
it was a liberty of disconnected States, sometimes united, indeed, 
by temporary leagues and confederacies, but often involved in 
wars between themselves. The sword of Sparta turned its 
sharpest edge against Athens, enslaved her, and devastated 
Greece ; and, in her turn, Sparta was compelled to bend before 
the power of Thebes. And let it ever be remembered, especially 
let the truth sink deep into all American minds, that it was the 
WANT OF UNION among her several States which finally gave the 
mastery of all Greece to Philip of Macedon. 

And there has also been a Roman liberty, a proud, ambitious, 
domineering spirit, professing free and popular principles in Rome 
itself, but, even in the best days of the Republic, ready to carry 
slavery and chains into her provinces, and through every country 
over which her eagles could be borne. What was the liberty of 
Spain, or Gaul, or Germany, or Britain in the days of Rome ? 
Did true constitutional liberty then exist ? As the Roman Empire 
declined, her provinces, not instructed in the principles of free 
popular government, one after another declined also, and when 
Rome herself fell in the end, all fell together. 

I have said, gentlemen, that our inheritance is an inheritance 
of American liberty. That liberty is characteristic, peculiar, and 
altogether our own. Nothing like it existed in former times, nor 
was known in the most enlightened States of antiquity ; while 
with us its principles have become interwoven into the minds of 
individual men, connected with our daily opinions, and our daily 
habits, until it is, if I may so say, an element of social as well as 
of political life ; and the consequence is, that to whatever region 
an American citizen carries himself, he takes with him, fully de- 
veloped in his own understanding and experience, our American 
principles and opinions, and becomes ready at once, in co-opera- 
tion with others, to apply them to the formation of new Govern- 
ments. Of this a most wonderful instance may be seen in the 
history of the State of California. 



9 

On a former occasion I have ventured to remark that, " It is 

* very difficult to establish a free conservative Government for 

* the equal advancement of all the interests of societ}^ What 

* has Germany done ; learned Germany, fuller of ancient lore than 

* all the world beside ? What has Italy done ? What have they 

* done who dwell on the spot where Cicero lived? They have 

* not the power of self-government which a common town-meet- 

* ing, with us, possesses ?" " Yes, I say, that those persons who 

* have gone from our town-meetings to dig gold in California, are 

* more fit to make a Republican Government than any body of 

* men in Germany or Italy ; because they have learned this one 

* great lesson, that there is no security without law, and that, 

* under the circumstances in which they are placed, where there 

* is no military authority to cut their throats, there is no sovereign 
' will but the will of the majority; that, therefore, if they remain, 
' they must submit to that will." And this I believe to be strictly 
true. 

Now, fellow-citizens, if your patience will hold out, I will ven- 
ture, before proceeding to the more appropriate and particular 
duties of the day, to state, in a few words, what I take these 
American political principles in substance to be. They consist, 
as I think, in the first place, in the establishment of popular Gov- 
ernments, on the basis of representation ; for it is plain that a 
pure democracy, like that which existed in some of the States of 
Greece, in which every individual had a direct vote in the enact- 
ment of all laws, cannot possibly exist in a country of wide ex- 
tent. This representation is to be made as equal as circumstances 
will allow. Now, this principle of popular representation, pre- 
vailing either in all the branches of Governments, or in some of 
them, has existed in these States almost from the days of the set- 
tlements at Jamestown and Plymouth ; borrowed, no doubt, from 
the example of the popular branch of the British Legislature. 
The representation of the people in the British House of Com- 
mons was, indeed, originally very unequal, and is yet not equal. 
Indeed, it may be doubted whether the appearance of Knights 
and Burgesses assembling on the summons of the Crown, was 
not intended at first as an assistance and support to the Royal 
prerogative, in matters of revenue and taxation, rather than as a 
mode of ascertaining popular opinion. Nevertheless, representa- 



10 

tion had a popular origin, and savored more and more' of the 
character of that origin, as it acquired, by slow degrees, greater 
and greater strength, in the actual government of the country. 
In fact, the constitution of the House of Commons w^as a form of 
representation, however unequal ; numbers were counted, and 
majorities prevailed ; and when our ancestors, acting upon this 
example, introduced more equality of representation, the idea as- 
sumed a more rational and distinct shape. At any rate, this 
manner of exercising popular power was familiar to our fathers 
when they settled on this continent. They adopted it, and gene- 
ration has risen up after generation, all acknowledging it, and 
becoming acquainted with its practice and its forms. 

And the next fundamental principle in our system is, that the 
will of the majorit}^, fairly expressed through the means of repre- 
sentation, shall have the force of law; and it is quite evident that 
in a country without Thrones or Aristocracies or privileged castes 
or classes, there can be no other foundation for law to stand upon. 

And, as the necessary result of this, the third element is, that 
the law is the supreme rule for the government of all. The 
great sentiment of Alcseus, so beautifully presented to us by Sir 
William Jones, is absolutely indispensable to the construction and 
maintenance of our political systems : 

" What constitutes a State? 

Not high rais'd battlements or labored mound, 
Thick wall or moated gate; 

Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crown'd; 
Not bays and broad arm'd ports, 

Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 
Not starr'd and spangled courts, 

Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
No — Mbit, high-minded Men, 

With powers as far above dull brutes endued 
In forests, brake or den, 

As beasts excel cold rock and brambles rude: 
Men who their duties know, 

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain; 
Prevent the long-aim'd blow, 

And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain: 
These constitute a State; 

And SovEHEiGN Law, that State's collected will. 
O'er thrones and globes elate 

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill." 



11 

And, finally, another most important part of the great fabric of 
American liberty is, that there shall be written constitutions, 
founded on the immediate authority of the people themselves, 
and regulating and restraining all the powers conferred upon 
Government, whether legislative, executive, or judicial. 

This, fellow-citizens, I suppose to be a just summary of our 
American principles, and I have on this occasion sought to ex- 
press them in the plainest and in the fewest words. The sum- 
mary may not be entirely exact, but I hope it may be sufficiently 
so to make manifest to the rising generation among ourselves, 
and to those elsewhere, who may choose to inquire into the nature 
of our political institutions, the general theory upon which they 
are founded. And I now proceed to add, that the strong and deep- 
settled conviction of all intelligent persons amongst us is, that in 
order to support a useful and wise Government upon these popu- 
lar principles, the general education of the people, and the wide 
diffusion of pure morality and true religion, are indispensable. 
Individual virtue is a part of public virtue. It is difficult to con- 
ceive how there can remain morality in the Government when it 
shall cease to exist among the people ; or how the aggregate of 
the political institutions, all the organs of which consist only of 
men, should be wise, and beneficent, and competent to inspire 
confidence, if the opposite qualities belong to the individuals who 
constitute those organs, and make up that aggregate. 

And now, fellow-citizens, I take leave of this part of the duty 
which I proposed to perform, and onpe more felicitating you and 
myself that our eyes have seen the light of this blessed morning, 
and that our ears have heard the shouts with which joyous thou- 
sands welcome its return, and joining with you in the hope that 
every revolving year shall renew these rejoicings to the end of 
time, I proceed to address you, shortly, upon the particular occa- 
sion of our assembling here to-day. 

Fellow-citizens, by the act of Congress of 30th September, 1850, 
provision was made for the Extension of the Capitol, according 
to such plan as might be approved by the President of the United 
States, and the necessary sums to be expended, under his direc- 
tion, by such architect as he might appoint. This measure was 
imperatively demanded for the use of the Legislative and Judi- 
ciary departments, the public libraries, the occasional accommo- 



12 

dation of the Chief Executive Magistrate, and for other objects. 
No act of Congress incurring a large expenditure has received 
more general approbation from the people. The President has 
proceeded to execute this law. He has approved a plan ; he has 
appointed an architect ; and all things are nov^ ready for the com- 
mencement of the work. 

The Anniversary of National Independence appeared to afford 
an auspicious occasion for laying the foundation-stone of the ad- 
ditional building. That ceremony has now been performed, by 
the President himself, in the presence and view of this multitude. 
He has thought that the day and the occasion made a united and 
imperative call for some short address to the people here assem- 
bled ; and it is at his request that I have appeared before you to 
perform that part of the duty which was deemed incumbent on us. 

Beneath the stone is deposited, among other things, a list of 
which will be published, the following brief account of the pro- 
ceedings of this day, in my handwriting : 

"On the morning of the first day of the Seventy-sixth year of 

* the Independence of the United States of America, in the City of 
'Washington, being the 4th day of July, 1851, this stone, designed 

* as the corner-stone of the extension of the Capitol, according to 

* a plan approved by the President, in pursuance of an act of Con- 
« gress, was laid by 

'MILLARD FILLMORE, 
'president of the united states, 
'assisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in 
' the presence of many members of Congress, of officers of the 
'Executive and Judiciary Departments, National, State, and 
' District, of officers of the army and navy, the Corporate autho- 
' rities of this and neighboring cities, many associations, civil and 

* military and masonic, officers of the Smithsonian Institution and 
'National Institute, professors of colleges and teachers of schools 
' of the District, with their students and pupils, and a vast con- 
' course of people from places near and remote, including a few 
'surviving gentlemen who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone 
'of the Capitol by President Washington, on the eighteenth day 

* of September, seventeen hundred and ninety-three. 

"If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God that this 
' structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned, 



13 

* and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known, 

* that, on this day, the Union of the United States of America 

* stands firm, that their Constitution still exists unimpaired, and 
' with all its original usefulness and glory ; growing every day 

* stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the 

* American people, and attracting more and more the admiration 
*of the world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to 

* public life or to private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to 
' Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happiness 
*of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayers that this 

* deposite, and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the 

* columns and entablatures now to be erected over it may endure 
' forever ! 

" God save the United States of America. 

" DANIEL WEBSTER, 
" Secretary of State of the United StatesJ*^ 

Fellow-citizens: Fifty-eight years ago Washington stood on 
this spot to execute a duty like that which has now been per- 
formed. He then laid the corner-stone of the original Capitol. 
He was at the head of the Government, at that time weak in re- 
sources, burdened with debt, just struggling into political exist- 
ence and respectability, and agitated by the heaving waves which 
were overturning European thrones. But even then, in many 
important respects, the Government was strong. It was strong 
in Washington's own great character ; it was strong in the wis- 
dom and patriotism of other eminent public men, his political 
associates and fellow-laborers ; and it was strong in the affections 
of the people. 

Since that time astonishing changes have been wrought in the 
condition and prospects of the American People ; and a degree of 
progress witnessed with which the world can furnish no parallel. 
As we review the course of that progress, wonder and amazement 
arrest our attention at every step. The present occasion, although 
allowing of no lengthened remarks, may yet perhaps admit of a 
short comparative statement between important subjects of na- 
tional interest as they existed at that day and as they now exist. 
I have adopted for this purpose the tabular form of statement, as 
being the most brief and the most accurate. 



14 



COMPARATIVE TABLE. 



Number of States 

Representatives and Senators in Con- 
gress 

Population of the United States . . . 

Population of Boston 

Population of Baltimore 

Population of Philadelphia .... 

Population of New York (city) . . . 

Population of Washington .... 

Population of Richmond 

Population of Charleston 

Amount of receipts into the Treasury 

Amount of expenditures of the U. States 

Amount of imports 

Amount of exports 

Amount of tonnage .... (tons) 

Area of the U. States in square miles 

Rank and file of the army .... 

Militia (enrolled) 

Navy of the United States (vessels) . 

Navy armament (ordnance) .... 

Treaties and conventions v^rith foreign 
Powers 

Light-houses and light-boats .... 

Expenditures for do. . . . . 

Area of the Capitol 

No. of miles of railroad in operation . 

Cost of ditto 

No. of miles in course of construction 

Lines of telegraph, in miles .... 

Number of post ofiices 

Number of miles of post route . . . 

Amount of revenue from post offices . 

Amount of expenditures of Post Office 
Department 

Number of miles mail transportation . 

Number colleges 

Public libraries 

Volumes in ditto 

School libraries 

Volumes in ditto 

Emigrants from Europe to the U. S. . 

Coinage at the Mint 



Year 1793. 



15 

185 
3,929,328 
18,038 
13,503 
42,520 
33,121 



4,000 

16,359 

85,720,624 

$7,529,575 

831,000,000 

826,109,000 

520,764 

805,461 

5,120 



Year 1851. 



(none.) 



12 

812,061 
one-half acre 



209 

5,642 

8104,747 

872,040 



19 

35 

75,000 



10,000 
89,664 



31 

295 

23,267,498 

136,871 

169,054 

409,045 

515,507 

40,075 

27,582 

42,983 

843,774,848 

839,355,268 

8178,138,318 

8151,898,720 

3,535,454 

3,314,365 

10,000 

2,006,456 

76 

2,012 

90 
372 

8529,265 

acres. 

10,287 

8306,607,954 

10,092 

15,000 

21,551 

178,762 

85,592,971 

85,212,953 

46,541,423 

121 

694 

2,201,632 

10,000 

2,000,000 

299,610 

852,019.465 



4.^ 

^3 



15 

In respect to the growth of Western trade and commerce, I ex- 
tract a few sentences from a very valuable address before the 
Historical Society of Ohio, by William D. Gallagher, Esq., 1850 : 

"A few facts will exhibit as well as a volume the wonderful 
'growth of Western trade and commerce. Previous to the year 

* 1800, some eight or ten keel-boats, of twenty or twenty-five tons 
*each, performed all the carrying trade between Cincinnati and 

* Pittsburg. In 1802 the first Government vessel appeared on 
*Lake Erie. In 1811 the first steamboat (the Orleans) was 
Maunched at Pittsburg, In 1826 the waters of Michigan were 

* first ploughed by the keel of a steamboat, a pleasure trip to 

* Green Bay being planned and executed in the summer of this 
*year. In 1832 a steamboat first appeared at Chicago. At the 

* present time the entire number of steamboats running on the 

* Mississippi and Ohio, and their tributaries, is more probably over 

* than under six hundred ; the aggregate tonnage of which is not 

* short of one hundred and forty thousand, a larger number of 

* steamboats than England can claim, and a greater steam com- 

* mercial marine than that employed by Great Britain and her 

* dependencies." 

And now, fellow-citizens, having stated to you this infallible 
proof of the growth and prosperity of the nation, I ask you, and 
I would ask every man, whether the Government which has been 
over us nas proved itself an affliction or a curse to the country, 
or any part of it? 

Ye men of the South, of all the original Southern States, what 
say you to all this ? Are you, or any of you, ashamed of this great 
work of your fathers? Your fathers were not they who stoned 
the prophets and killed them. They were among the prophets ; 
they were of the prophets ;. they were themselves the prophets. 

Ye men of Virginia, what do you say to all this ? Ye men of 
the Potomac, dwelling along the shores of that river on which 
Washington lived, and died, and where his remains now rest^ ye, 
so many of whom may see the domes of the Capitol from your 
own homes, what say ye ? 

Ye men of James river and the Baj^, places consecrated by the 
early settlement of your commonwealth, what do you say? Do 
you desire, from the soil of your State, or as you travel to the 
2 



16 

North, to see these halls vacated, their beauty and ornaments de- 
stroyed, and their national usefulness clean gone forever? 

Ye men beyond the Blue Ridge, many thousands of whom are 
nearer to this Capitol than to the seat of government of your own 
State, what do you think of breaking this great association into 
fragments of States and of People ? I know some of you, and I 
believe you all, would be almost as much shocked at the an- 
nouncement of such a catastrophe as if you were to be informed 
that the Blue Ridge itself would soo.i totter from its base. And 
ye men of Western Virginia, who occupy the great slope from 
the top of the Alleghany to Ohio and Kentucky, what course 
do you propose to yourselves by disunion ? If you " secede," what 
do you " secede" from, and what do you " accede" to ? Do you 
look for the current of the Ohio to change, and to bring you and 
your commerce to the tide- waters of Eastern rivers ? What man 
in his senses can suppose that you will remain part and parcel of 
Virginia a month after Virginia should have ceased to be part 
and parcel of the United States? 

The secession of Virginia ! the secession of Virginia, whether 
alone or in company, is most improbable, the greatest of all im- 
probabilities. Virginia, to her everlasting honor, acted a great 
part in framing and establishing the present Constitution. She 
has had her reward and her distinction. Seven of her noble sons 
have each filled the Presidency, and enjoyed the highest honors 
of the country. Dolorous complaints come up to us from the 
South that Virginia will not head the procession of secession, and 
lead the other Southern States out of the Union. This, if it should 
happen, would be something of a marvel, certainly, considering 
how much pains Virginia took to lead these same States into the 
Union, and considering, too, that she has partaken as largely of 
its benefits and its government as any other State. 

And ye men of the other Southern States, members of the old 
thirteen ; yes, members of the old thirteen ; that always touches 
my regard and my sympathies ; North Carolina, Georgia, South 
Carolina ! What page in your history, or in the history of any 
one of you, is brighter than those which have been recorded since 
the Union was formed ? Or through what effect has your pros- 
perity been greater, or your peace and happiness better secured ? 
What names even has South Carolina, now so much dissatisfied, 



17 

what names has she of which her intelligent sons are more proud 
than those which have been connected with the Government of 
the United States? In revolutionary times, and in the earliest 
days of this Constitution, there was no State more honored, or 
more deserving to be honored. Where is she now? And what 
a fall is there, my countrymen ! But I leave her to her /own re- 
flections, commending to her, with all my heart, the due consider- 
ation of her own example in times now gone by. 

Fellow-citizens, there are some diseases of the mind as well as 
of the body, diseases of communities, as well as diseases of indi- 
viduals, that must be left to their own cure ; at least it is wise to 
leave them so, until the last critical moment shall arrive. 

I hope it is not irreverent, and certainly it is not intended as re- 
proach, when I saj^, that I know no stronger expression in cur 
language than that which describes the restoration of a wayward 
son, "he came to himself." He had broken away from all the 
ties of love, family, and friendship. He had forsaken everything 
which he had once regarded in his father's house. He had quit- 
ted his natural sympathies, affections, and habits, and taken his 
journey into a far country. He had gone away from himself, and 
out of himself. But misfortunes overtook him, and famine threat- 
ened him with starvation and death. No entreaties from home 
followed him to beckon him back; no admonition from others 
warned him of his fate. But the hour of reflection had come, and 
nature and conscience wrought within him, until at length " he 
came to himself." 

And now, ye men of the new States of the South ! You are 
not of the original thirteen. The battle had been fought and 
won, the revolution achieved, and the Constitution established, 
before your States had any existence as States. You c^me to a 
prepared banquet, and had seats assigned you at table, just as 
honorable as those which were filled by older guests. You have 
been and are singularly prosperous ; and if any one should deny 
this, you would at once contradict his assertion. You have bought 
vast quantities of choice and excellent land at the lowest price ; 
and if the public domain has not been lavished upon you, you 
yourselves will admit that it has been appropriated to your own 
uses by a very liberal hand. And yet in some of these States, 
not in all, persons are found in favor of a dissolution of the Union, 



18 

or of secession from it. Such opinions are expressed even where 
the general prosperity of the community has been the most rapidly 
advanced. In the flourishing and interesting State of Mississippi, 
for example, there is a large party which insists that her griev- 
ances are intolerable, that the whole body politic is in a state of 
suffering, and all along, and through her whole extent on the 
Mississippi, a loud cry rings that her only remedy is " secession," 
"secession." Now, gentlemen, what infliction does the State of 
Mississippi sufler under ? What oppression prostrates her strength 
or destroys her happiness? Before we can judge of the proper 
remedy we must know something of the disease ; and, for my 
part, I confess that the real evil existing in the case appears to 
me to be a certain inquietude, or uneasiness, growing out of a 
high degree of prosperity and consciousness of wealth and power, 
which sometimes lead men to be ready for changes, and to push 
on to still higher elevation. If this be the truth of the matter, 
her political doctors are about right. If the complaint spring 
from over-wrought prosperity, for that disease I have no doubt 
that secession would prove a sovereign remedy. 

But I return to the leading topic on which I was engaged. In 
the department of invention there have been wonderful applica- 
tions of science to arts within the last sixty years. The spacious 
hall of the Patent Office is at once the reposifory and proof of 
American inventive art and genius. Their results are seen in the 
numerous improvements by which human labor is abridged. 

Without going into details, it may be sufllcient to say that many 
of the applications of steam to locomotion and manufactures ; of 
electricity and magnetism to the production of mechanical mo- 
tion ; the electrical telegraph ; the registration of astronomical 
phenomena; the art of multiplying engravings ; the introduction 
and improvement among us of all the important inventions of 
the Old World, are strikingly indicative of the progress of this 
country in the useful arts. 

The net-work of railroads and telegraph lines by which this 
vast country is reticulated have not only developed its re- 
sources, but united emphatically, in metallic bands, all parts of 
the Union. 

The hydraulic works of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston 
surpass in extent and importance those of ancient Rome. 



19 

But we have not confined our attention to the immediate ap- 
plication of science to the useful arts. We have entered the field 
of original research, and have enlarged the bounds of scientific 
knowledge. 

Sixty years ago, besides the brilliant discoveries of Franklin 
in electricity, scarcely anything had been done among us in the 
way of original discovery. Our men of science were content 
with repeating the experiments and diffusing a knowledge of the 
discoveries of the learned of the Old World, without attempting 
to add a single new fact or principle to the existing stock. With- 
in the last twentj^-five or thirty years a remarkable improvement 
has taken place in this respect. Our natural history has been 
explored in all its branches ; our geology has been investigated 
with results of the highest interest to practical and theoretical 
science. Discoveries have been made in pure chemistry and elec- 
tricity which have received the approbation of the world. The 
advance which has been made in meteorology in this country, 
within the last twenty years, is equal to that made during the 
same period in all the world besides. 

In 1793 there was not in the United States an instrument with 
which a good observation of the heavenly bodies could be made. 
There are now instruments at Washington, Cambridge, and Cin- 
cinnati equal to those at the best European observatories, and 
the original discoveries in astronomy within the last five years in 
this country are among the most brilliant of the age. I can 
hardly refrain from saying, in this connexion, that the "celestial 
mechanics" of La Place has been translated and extended by 
Bowditch. 

Our knowledge of the geography and topography of the Ame- 
rican continent has been rapidly extended by the labor and science 
of the officers of the United States army, and discoveries of much 
interest in distant seas have resulted from the enterprise of the navy. 

In 1807 a survey of the coast of the United States was com- 
menced, which at that time it was supposed no American was 
competent to direct. The work has, however, grown within the 
last few years, under a native superintendent, in importance and 
extent beyond any enterprise of the kind ever before attempted. 

These facts conclusively prove that a great advance has been 
made among us, not only in the application of science to the 



20 

wants of ordinary life, but to science itself, in its highest branches, 
in its adaptation to satisfy the cravings of the immortal mind. 

In respect to literature, with the exception of some books of 
elementary education, and some theological treatises, of which 
scarcely any but those of Jonathan Edwards have any permanent 
value, and some works on local history and politics, like Hutchin- 
son's Massachusetts, Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, the Federalist, 
Belknap's New Hampshire, and Morse's Geography, and a few 
others, America had not produced a single work of any repute in 
literature. We were almost wholly dependant on imported 
books. Even our Bibles and Testaments were, for the most part, 
printed abroad. The book trade is now one of the greatest 
branches of business, and many works of standard value and of 
high reputation in Europe as well as at home have been produced 
by American authors in every department of literary composition. 

While the country has been expanding in dimensions, in num- 
bers, and in wealth, the Government has applied a wise forecast 
in the adoption of measures necessary, when the world shall no 
longer be at peace, to maintain the national honor, whether by 
appropriate displays of vigor abroad, or by well adapted means 
of defence at home. A navy, which has so often illustrated our 
history by heroic achievements, though restrained in peaceful 
times in its operations to narrow limits, possesses, in its admira- 
ble elements, the means of great and sudden expansion, and is 
justly looked upon by the nation as the right arm of its power : 
an army, still smaller, but not less perfect in its detail, which has 
on many a field exhibited the military aptitudes and prowess of 
the race, and demonstrated the wisdom which has presided over 
its organization and government. 

While the gradual and slow enlargement of these respective 
military arms has been regulated by a jealous watchfulness over 
the public treasure, there has, nevertheless, been freely given all 
that was needed to perfect their quality ; and each affords the 
nucleus of any enlargement that the public exigencies may de- 
mand, from the millions of brave hearts and strong arms upon 
the land and water. 

The navy is the active and aggressive element of national de- 
fence ; and, let loose from our own seacoast, must display its 
power in the seas and channels of the enemy : to do this, it need 



21 

not be large ; and it can never be large enough to defend by its 
presence at home all our ports and harbors. But, in the absence 
of the navy, what can the regular army or the volunteer militia 
do against the enemy's lineof-battle ships and steamers, falling 
without notice upon our coast? What will guard our cities from 
tribute, our merchant vessels and our navy-yards from confla- 
gration ? Here, again, we see a wise forecast in the system of 
defensive measures, which, especially since the close of the war 
with Great Britain, has been steadily followed by our Govern- 
ment. 

While the perils from which our great establishments had just 
escaped were yet fresh in remembrance, a system of fortifications 
was begun, which now, though not quite complete, fences in our 
important points with impassable strength. More than four 
thousand cannon may at any moment, within strong and perma- 
nent works, arranged with all the advantages and appliances 
that the art affords, be turned to the protection of the sea coast, 
and be served by the men whose hearths they shelter. Happy 
for us that it is so, since these are means of security that time 
alone can supply; and since the improvements of maritime war- 
fare, by making distant expeditions easy and speedy, have made 
them more probable, and at the same time more difficult to anti- 
cipate and provide against. The cost of fortifying all the import- 
ant points on our whole Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico frontier 
will not exceed the amount expended on the fortifications of 
Paris, 

In this connexion one most important facility in the defence of 
the country is not to be overlooked ; it is the almost instantaneous 
rapidity with which the soldiers of the army, and any number of 
the militia corps, may be brought to any point where a hostile 
attack may at any time be made or threatened. 

And this extension of territory, embraced within the United 
States, increase of its population, commerce and manufactures, 
development of its resources by canals and railroads, and rapidity 
of intercommunication by means of steam and electricity, have 
all been accomplished without overthrow of or danger to the 
public liberties, by any assumption of military power ; and, in- 
deed, without any permanent increase of the army, except for the 
purpose of frontier defence, and of affording a slight guard to the 



22 

public property ; or of the navy, any further than to assure the 
navigator that, in whatsoever sea he shall sail his ship, he is pro- 
tected by the stars and stripes of his country. And this, too, 
has been done without the shedding of a drop of blood, for trea- 
son or rebellion; while systems of popular representation have 
regularly been supported in the State Governments and in the 
General Government ; while laws, national and State, of such 
a character have been passed, and have been so wisely admin- 
istered, that I may stand up here to-day and declare, as I now 
do declare, in the face of all the intelligent of the age, that for 
the period which has elapsed, from the day that Washington laid 
the foundation of this Capitol to the present time, there has been 
Eo country upon earth in which life, liberty, and property have 
been more amply and steadily secured, or more freely enjoyed, 
than in these United States of America. Who is there that will 
deny this ? Who is there prepared with a greater or a better 
example ? Who is there that can stand upon the foundation of 
facts, acknowledged or proved, and assert that these our republi- 
can institutions have not answered the true ends of Government 
beyond all precedent in human history? 

There is yet another view. There are still higher considera- 
tions. Man is an intellectual being, destined to immortality. 
There is a spirit in him, and the breath of the Almighty hath 
given him understanding. Then only is he tending toward his 
own destiny, while he seeks for knowledge or virtue, for the will 
of his Maker, and for just conceptions of his own duty. Of all 
important questions, therefore, let this, the most important of all, 
be first asked and first answered : in what country of the habit- 
able globe, of great extent and large population, are the means 
of knowledge the most generall}' diffused and enjoyed among 
the people? This question admits of one, and only one, answer. 
It is here ; it is here in these United States; it is among the de- 
scendants of those who settled at Jamestown ; of those who were 
pilgrims on the shore of Plymouth ; and of those other rac^s of 
men, who, in subsequent times, have become joined in this great 
American family. Let one fact incapable of doubt or dispute 
satisfy every mind on this point. The population of the United 
States is 23,000,000. Now, take the map of the continent of 
Europe and spread it out before you. Take your scale and your 



23 

dividers, and lay off in one area, in any shape you please, a tri- 
angle, square, circle, parallelogram, or trapezoid, and of an extent 
that shall contain 150,000,000 of people, and there will be found 
within the United States more persons who do habitually read 
and write than can be embraced within the lines of j^our demar- 
cation. 

But there is something even more than this. Man is not only an 
intellectual, but he is also a religious being, and his religious 
feelings and habits require cultivation. 

Let the religions element in man's nature be neglected, let him 
be influenced by no higher motives than low self-interest, and sub- 
jected to no stronger restraint than the limits of civil authority, 
and he becomes the creature of selfish passions or blind fanaticism. 

The spectacle of a nation powerful and enlightened, but with- 
out christian faith, has been presented, almost within our own 
day, as a warning beacon for the nations. 

Oq the other hand, the cultivation of the religious sentiment 
represses licentiousness, incites to general benevolence, and the 
practical acknowledgment of the brotherhood of man, inspires 
respect for law and order, and gives strength to the whole social 
fabric, at the same time that it conducts the human soul upward 
to the Author of its being. 

Now, I think it may be stated with truth, in no country, in 
proportion to its population, are there so many benevolent es- 
tablishments connected with religious instruction, Bible, Mission- 
ary, and Tract Societies, supported by public and private contri- 
butions, as in our own. There are also institutions for the edu- 
cation of the blind, of idiots, the deaf and dumb, the reception 
of orphan and destitute children, for moral reform, designed for 
children and females respectively ; and institutions for the refor- 
mation of criminals, not to speak of those numerous establish- 
ments in almost every county and town in the United States for 
the reception of the aged, infirm, and destitute poor, many of 
whom have fled to our shores to escape the poverty and wretched- 
ness of their condition at home. 

In the United States there is no church establishment or eccle- 
siastical authority founded by Government. Public worship is 
maintained either by voluntary associations and contributions, or 
by trusts and donations of a charitable origin. 



24 

Now, I think it safe to say that a greater portion of the people 
of the United States attend public worship, decently clad, well 
behaved, and well seated, than of any other country of the civil- 
ized world. 

Edifices of religion are seen every where. Their aggregate 
cost would amount to an immense sum of money. They are, in 
the general, kept in good repair, and consecrated to the purposes 
of public worship. In these edifices the people regularly assem- 
ble on the Sabbath day, which is sacredly set apart for rest by 
all classes from secular employment, and for religious meditation 
and worship, to listen to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and 
discourses from pious ministers of the several denominations. 

This attention to the wants of the intellect and of the soul, as 
manifested by the voluntary support of schools and colleges, of 
churches, and benevolent institutions, is one of the most remark- 
able characteristics of the American people, not less strikingly 
exhibited in the new than in the older settlements of the coun- 
try. 

On the spot where the first trees of the forest were felled, near 
the log cabins of the pioneers, are to be seen rising together the 
church and the school house. So has it been from the beginning, 
and God grant that it may thus continue ! 

'* On other shores, above their mouldering towns, 
In sullen pomp the tall cathedral frowns; 
Simple and frail, our lowly temples throw 
Their slender shadows on the paths below; 
Scarce steal the winds, that sweep the woodland tracks, 
The larch's perfume from the settler's axe, 
'Ere, like a vision of the morning air, 
His slight framed steeple marks the house of prayer. 
Yet Faith's pure hymn, beneath its shelter rude, 
Breathes out as sweetly to the tangled wood, 
As where the rays through blazing oriels pour 
On marble shaft and tessellated floor." 

Who does not admit that this unparalleled growth in prosperity 
and renown is the result, under Providence, of the Union of these 
States, under a general Constitution, which guaranties to eacli 
State a republican form of Government, and to every man the 
enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free from 
civil tyranny or ecclesiastical domination ? 



25 

And to bring home this idea to the present occasion, who does 
not feel that, when President Washington laid his hand on the 
foundation of the first Capitol building, he performed a great 
work of perpetuation of the Union and the Constitution ? Who 
does not feel that this seat of the General Government, healthful 
in its situation, central in its position, near the mountains from 
whence gush springs of wonderful virtue, teeming with Nature's 
richest products, and yet not far from the bays and the great es- 
tuaries of the sea, easily accessible and generally agreeable in 
climate and association, does give strength to the Union of these 
States ; that this city, bearing an immortal name, with its broad 
streets and avenues, its public squares and magnificent edifices of 
the General Government, erected for the purposes of carrying on 
within them the important business of the several Departments ; 
for the reception of wonderful and curious inventions, the preser- 
vation of the records of American learning and genius ; of exten- 
sive collections of the products of nature and art, brought hither 
for study and comparison from all parts of the world ; adorned 
with numerous churches, and sprinkled over, I am happy to say, 
with many public schools, where all children of the city, without 
distinction, are provided with the means of obtaining a good edu- 
cation ; where there are academies and colleges, professional 
schools and public libraries, should continue to receive, as it has 
heretofore received, the fostering care of Congress, and should be 
regarded as the permanent seat of the National Government. 
Here, too, a citizen of the great republic of letters, a republic 
which knows not the metes and bounds of political geography, 
has prophetically indicated his conviction that America is to ex- 
ercise a wide and powerful influence in the intellectual world, 
by founding in this city, as a commanding position in the field of 
science and literature, and placing under the guardianship of the 
Government, an institution "for the increase and diftusion of 
knowledge among men." 

With each succeeding year new interest is added to the spot ; 
it becomes connected with all the historical associations of our 
country, with her statesmen and her orators, and, alas ! its ceme- 
tery is annually enriched with the ashes of her chosen sons. 

Before us is the broad and beautiful river, separating two of the 
original thirteen States, and which a late President, a man of de- 



26 

termined purpose and inflexible will, but patriotic heart, desired 
to span with arches of ever-endaring granite, symbolical of the 
firmly cemented union of the North and the South. That Presi- 
dent was General Jackson. 

On its banks repose the ashes of the Father of his Country, and 
at our side, by a singular felicity of position, overlooking the city 
which he designed, and which bears his name, rises to his memo- 
ry the marble column, sublime in its simple grandeur, and fitly 
intended to reach a loftier height than any similar structure ori 
the surface of the whole earth. 

Let the votive offerings of his grateful countrymen be freely 
contributed to carry higher and still higher this monument. May 
I say, as on another occasiofi, " Let it rise ; let it rise, till it meet 
the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild 
it, and parting day linger and play on its summit !".- ' ' 

Fellow-citizens, what contemplations are awakened in our 
mindsas we assemble here to re-enact a scene like that performed 
by Washington ! Methinks I see his venerable form now before 
me, as presented in the glorious statue by Houdon, now in the 
capitol of Virginia. He is dignified and grave ; but concern and 
anxiety seem to soften the lineaments of his countenance. The 
Government over which he presides is yet in the crisis of experi- 
ment. Notfreefrom troubles at home, he sees the world in com- 
motion and in arms all around him. He sees that imposing 
foreign Powers are half disposed to try the strength of the re- 
centlj^-established American Government. We perceive that 
mighty thoughts, mingled with fears as well as with hopes, are 
struggling within him. He heads a short procession over these 
then naked fields ; he crosses j^onder stream on a fallen tree ; he 
ascends to the top of this eminence, whose original oaks of the 
forest stand as thick around him as if the spot had been devoted 
to Druidical worship, and here he performs the appointed duty of 
the day. 

And now, fellow-citizens, if this vision were a reality ; if Wash- 
ington actually were now amongst us, and if he could draw 
around him the shades of the great public men of his own days, 
patriots and warriors, orators and statesmen, and were to address 
us in their presence, would he not say to us, " Ye men of this 
generation, I rejoice and thank God for being able to see that our 



27 

labors and toils and sacrifices were not in vain. You are pros- 
perous, 3^ou are happy, you are grateful; the fire of liberty burns 
brightly and steadily in your hearts, while duty and the law re- 
strain it from bursting forth in wild and destructive conflagra- 
tion. Cherish liberty, as you love it ; cherish its securities as you 
wish to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which we labored 
so painfully to establish, and which has been to you such a source 
of inestimable blessings. Preserve the union of the States, ce- 
mented as it was by our prayers, our tears, and our blood. Be 
true to God, to your country, and to your duty. So shall the 
whole Eastern World follow the morning sun to contemplate you 
as a nation ; so shall all generations honor you, as they honor us ; 
and so shall that Almighty Power which so graciously protected 
us, and which now protects you, shower its everlasting blessings 
upon you and your posterity." 

Great father of your country ! we heed your words ; we feel 
their force as if you now uttered them with lips of flesh and blood. 
Your example teaches us, your affectionate addresses teach 
us, your public life teaches us your sense of the value of the 
blessings of the Union. Those blessings our fathers have tasted, 
and we have tasted, and still taste. Nor do we intend that those 
who come after us shall be denied the same high fruition. Our 
honor as well as our happiness is concerned. We cannot, we 
dare not, we will not betray our sacred trust. We will not filch 
from posterity the treasure placed in our hands to be transmitted 
to other generations. The bow that gilds the clouds in the heav- 
ens, the pillars that uphold the firmament, may disappear and fall 
away in the hour appointed by the will of God ; but until that day 
comes, or so long as our lives may last, no ruthless hand shall un- 
dermine that bright arch of Union and Liberty which spans the 
continent from Washington to California. 

Fellow-citizens, we must sometimes be tolerant to folly, and 
patient at the sight of the extreme w^aywardness of men ; but I 
confess that when I reflect on the renown of our past history, on 
our present prosperity and greatness, and on what the future 
hath yet to unfold ; and when I see that there are men who can 
find in all this nothing good, nothing valuable, nothing truly glo- 
rious, I feel that all their reason has fled away from them, and 
left the entire control over their judgment and their actions to 



28 

insanity and fanaticism ; and, more than all, fellow-citizens, if 
the purposes of fanatics and disunionists should be accomplished, 
the patriotic and intelligent of our generation would seek to hide 
themselves from the scorn of the world, and go about to find dis- 
honorable graves. 

Fellow-citizens, take courage; be o^ good cheer. We shall 
come to no such ignoble end. We shall live, and not die. Du- 
ring the period allotted to our several lives we shall continue to 
rejoice in the return of this Anniversary. The ill-omened sounds 
of fanaticism^ will be hushed ; the ghastly spectres of Secession 
and Disunion will disappear, and the enemies of united constitu- 
tional liberty, if their hatred cannot be appeased, may prepare to 
sear their eyeballs as they behold the steady flight of the Ameri- 
can Eagle, on his burnished wings, for years and years to come. 

President Fillmore, it is your singularly good fortune to per- 
form an act such as that which the earliest of your predecessors 
performed fifty-eight years ago. You stand where he stood ; 
you lay your hand on the corner-stone of a building designed 
greatly to extend that whose corner-stone he laid. Changed, 
changed is every thing around. The sam.e sun, indeed, shone 
upon his head which now shines upon yours. The same broad 
river rolled at his feet, and bathes his last resting place, that now 
rolls at yours. But the site of this city was then mainly an open 
field. Streets and avenues have since been laid out and com- 
pleted, squares and public grounds enclosed and ornamented, 
until the city which bears his name, although comparatively in- 
considerable in numbers and wealth, has become quite fit to be 
the seat of government of a great and united people. 

Sir, may the consequences of the duty which you perform so 
auspiciously to-day equal those which flowed from his act. Nor 
this only; may the principles of your administration, and the 
wisdom of your political conduct, be such as that the world of 
the present day, and all history hereafter, may be at no loss to 
perceive what example you have made your study. 

Fellovi^-citizens, I now bring this address to a close, by expres- 
sing to you, in the words of the great Roman orator, the deepest 
wish of my heart, and which I know dwells deeply in the hearts 
of all who hear me : " Duo mod6 haec opto ; unum, ut moriens 
* POPULUM RoMANUM iJBERUM RELiNQUAM *, hoc mihi majus a diis im- 



29 

* mortalibus dari nihil potest : alterum, ut ita cuique eveniat, ut 

* de republica quisque mereatur." • 

And now, fellow-citizens, with hearts void of hatred, envy, and 
malice towards our own countrymen, or any of them, or towards 
the subjects or citizens of other Governments, or towards any 
member of the great family of man ; but exulting, nevertheless, 
in our own peace, security, and happiness, in the grateful remem- 
brance of the past, and the glorious hopes of the future, let us 
return to our homes, and with all humility and devotion offer our 
thanks to the Father of all our mercies, political^ social, and re- 
liofious. 



30 

The following letter, received a few days after the delivery of 
the foregoing Address, from one of the surviving gentlemen who 
witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of the Capitol, by Presi- 
dent Washington, will be read with interest : 

Boston, July 8, 1851. 

My Honored Sir: I cannot well refrain from thus thanking you for your Address, at 
the Metropolis, on the 4th inst., which I have read from the newspapers. It has carried 
me back to that scene so happily adverted to by you, of which I was a witness, on the 18th 
of September, 1793, when in boyhood. 

The cavalcade on the morning of that day, was formed at Suter's Tavern, in George- 
town, three miles from the spot where Washington, in person, officiated at the ceremony 
of laying the corner-stone of the Capitol ; that day I remember, was clear sunshine, and 
very hot for the season. After the ceremony was over, a large company returned to 
Suter's to partake of a dinner, prepared for the occasion, and where a most joyous enter, 
tainment was realized. Living just opposite the dinner- place, I had an opportunity to 
observe some of the most prominent of the company, viz: the City Commissioners; 
EUicott, the surveyor ; Major Benjamin Stoddert, afterwards Secretary of the Navy ; 
Col. Uriah Forrest, a Revo'utionary officer, who had lost a leg in the battle of Brandy- 
wine ; Gen. Lingan, the then Collector of the Port of Georgetown, and who several 
years after was massacred by the mob in Baltimore, a memorable and hateful period of 
party strife ; Robert Peters, the father of Thomas Peters, who married one of Lady 
Washington's grand daughters ; Col. William Deakins, one of the best esteemed gentle- 
men in the State of Maryland, with many others I could name ; they all, with Wash- 
ington, sat down at the full board on that joyous occasion. I heard one of the company 
after dinner remark, that " Washington himself was most happy." To take a retro- 
spect of fifty-eight years, and have that scene, with its present connections, sd well ex- 
pressed, as your words have done it, is to me intensely interesting, and I shall, therefore, 
make no apology for thus intruding upon your time. 

We all see, that all which the most sanguine of dreams, or the inspired prophecy 
of the poet could suggest, has been realized. I have only to regret, sir, that I was not ■ 
there to have joined the few remaining survivors who had also been present at the former 
celebration. 

I am, respectfully and truly. 

Your obedient and humble servant, 

HENRY LUNT. 

Hon. Daniel Webster, Washington, D. C. 



